Sleepless Nights, Cloudless Days
by King of the Poker Face
Summary: Being a Rookie Elite Jounin is not easy, Shikamaru understands this well. But when he has to handpick a team to try and retrieve or kill Sasuke, it becomes downright troublesome. And to make matters worse, the sky is completely blue!


**What's up people? This is my first Naruto fanfiction, but I did my best with it so I hope you guys enjoy it. I could use a BETA-reader to help me with grammar and spelling, so if any one is interested, don't be a afraid to PM me. And Constructive Criticism and positive feedback is always appreciated, of course. Oh and by the way, part of the battle scene is borrowed but I can't remember the name of the author I borrowed it from. **

**This story will include everything, and romance will not be the main focus of this story. While Shikamaru will be the main protagonist, all characters will get more than enough screen-time.**

**Summary: Being a Rookie Elite Jounin is not easy, Shikamaru understands this well. But when he has to handpick a team to try and retrieve or kill Sasuke, it becomes downright troublesome. Everybody has there own opinion on the matter, and Shikamaru needs his rest.**

**Chapter 1: Long Week At Work**

The ancestors of Fire Country believed that when someone was talking about you, you sneezed. The ancestors of neighbouring countries held similar beliefs; Water Country for instance, believed that if you were being spoken about your ears would burn.

Shikamaru considered himself an intelligent and logical person, and he wouldn't call himself superstitious – not by a long shot. Being a somewhat lazy ninja who had never shown any unique talents when he was younger, Shikamaru never had to deal with a lot of gossip about him. He wasn't extremely good looking like the Uchiha prodigy nor was he the last surviving member of a rare and powerful bloodline, so the amount of girls that would talk about him was exactly zero. He wasn't loud and unpredictable, in face he was the opposite. At school he would sleep through the tests and when not at school he often found himself at a quiet spot watching the clouds, allowing his normally over-active mind some well-needed rest. Aside from the occasional whining from his mother, nobody had any reason to talk behind Shikamaru's back. Of course we're speaking past tense here.

In the last three years he has begun sneezing almost daily; even his mom arranged an appointment with the doctor. His ears burned quite irritably, even on cool afternoons such as this one. Now as has been already mentioned, Shikamaru did not believe in superstition, so naturally a sneeze did not instil any fear of slander in him, rather it encouraged him to get out of wet clothing and take his allergy pills. Likewise, a burning ear would make him find a cool, quiet place and take off his Hitae-Ate for a while, until the accompanying face-ache subsided.

Unfortunately, being on crazy solo missions to hunt and retrieve a deadly high level shinobi who was accompanied by other deadly high level shinobi made finding time to cool your throbbing, burning ear a tad difficult. Especially when the tables had turned quite dramatically and the reason Shikamaru's ears were burning was because one if his supposed had shocked him with a B-level Raiton jutsu.

Shikamaru was tired, hungry, out-numbered, and he really _really_ needed to sneeze. He raced through the trees silently, weaving in and out of Fire Country borders, occasionally setting a trap with his shadows in hoping that maybe he could slow down his assailants - _targets, they're supposed to be my targets!_ – To give his lazy butt some time to come up with a decent plan. It was a good thing the ninjas chasing him weren't aware of his identity, even though his ever rising fame among the shinobi elites had no doubt spread through out these areas already. He already had a nickname - _Konoha's Shadow - _but he was still too new to the game for many to be able to place his face along with that nickname. He needed to find a way to see their abilities without entering direct combat with them, to ascertain their abilities and come up with a way to actually take them down, but knew that with the way things were going a fight would be near impossible to avoid. This mission was troublesome as hell. He didn't want to use his Shadow Merge technique, not yet at least, his Chakra was already running low and god he was _tired_. He didn't want to waste what little energy he had left on one of his most chakra consuming techniques, not to mention that he would reveal his identity to his pursuers if he used the technique. He needed to find a place to hide and gather his thoughts, but if the shinobis chasing him were familiar with this part of the forest then stopping _anywhere _would be suicide And considering how much energy he was wasting weaving through a forest he _knew like the back of his own fucking hand_, Shikamaru guessed that they also knew a thing or two about this forest.

There had been five names on his list of targets. In the last six days days he'd located and killed two A-class criminals and had tried to incapacitate one elite S-Class missing nin, as ordered - albeit awkwardly, almost getting killed himself. The three criminals left should be two low A-class ninjas with extensive combat experience but no unknown kinjutsu or bloodline to worry about, originally from the Hidden Sand and Hidden Waterfall – and the heavily damaged S-class shinobi, a shinobi no older than him but with rookie brilliance. Shikamaru had no problem locating his targets-being able to communicate with stags and his father being the boss of this entire forest certainly had its advantages-but as soon as he got within a hundred feet of the band of rogues he noticed that they were waiting for him. It seems that the mission document he had received forgot to mention that S-class rookie he was meant to capture had a special bloodline limit which gave him an extremely sharp sense of smell. Two days of travelling from Konoha to the base of these ninjas had certainly caused Shikamaru to work up a bit of a sweat, and this did not go unnoticed by a ninja who could smell a Shinobi from the leaf a mile away. He had been running away from them for almost four days now. No matter where he hid, they always found him after a few hours.

After a brief scuffle and some serious last minute strategy he had managed to take down two of their ninjas and destroy the eyes of his main target. But the young warrior relied on his nose more than his eyes, and would not be immobilized as Shikamaru had expected. There were now three shinobi chasing him, and the Rookie's moles – _Summons. _The moles were trailing him from under the ground even as he jumped from branch to branch, ensuring that he could not ditch his followers, despite any superior speed or knowledge of these forests. Since his deer couldn't fly, he flung six kunai with exploding tags attached towards the ground, intending to distract the moles - and quickly went through the hand seals of his very own shadow merge jutsu. He immediately felt himself sink into the tree, becoming one with the shades that the leaves were responsible for. He patiently waited - as he always did – for the first Shinobi to come through. The sand-nin - since the more powerful shinobi was now technically blind and the waterfall-nin was a woman – had decided that he should take the front. The waterfall kunoichi had no time to argue with the sand-nin and thus his chauvinism and her rationality would be his downfall and her chance to prolong her life a little longer. Having taken the lead, he was the first of the three to step on the branch where Shikamaru's Shadow form was hiding. As soon as his foot touched the wood Shikamaru emerged from the shadows and lodged a kunai in his throat. Our favourite Shadow immediately jumped toward the ground, immediately taking his eyes off the surprised ninja's face, whose body landed on the ground a few meters in front of him.

He stood no more than a second before jumping quickly to the side as a giant mole burst through the ground he had been standing less than a moment ago. He twisted his body to dodge a few shuriken thrown by the Waterfall kunoichi and performed the same handseals to merge with the shadows once more. As soon as his feet touched the ground he sank into it, becoming one with the shadows of the many trees. Another mole burst through the ground and his body dissipated, but he could no longer be hurt by physical attacks. His shadow merge was one of his more handy Justus these days, perfect for laying traps unnoticed or escaping physical harm. But even as a shadow he wasn't invisible, any attack with Chakra in them will not only hurt him but also immediately make him revert back to his normal form, which would be catastrophic at this point. As a shadow he could not see or hear or even breathe, the only sense he could use was his Chakra sense. And sure enough he _felt _the elite Rock-nin use a Doton technique. He felt the ground around him lace with Chakra and he immediately scrambling to move from his position before his previous location imploded into the earth.

Shikamaru quickly manoeuvred through the shadows of the tree, binding his chakra with the energy that comes into existence every time light was blocked, _feeling _that his attackers were closely on his heals. Another drawback to his Shadow form was the amount of Chakra it used. He was already tired before the chase began, and he was never known for his great Chakra stamina. Not to mention he couldn't hold his breath forever, and as a shadow he was unable to breathe or using any bodily function or else his ninjutsu would wear off. But that wasn't the problem, he still had chakra to burn and he could hold his breath for a few more minutes. His problem was another bodily function that had been acting up a lot lately. As he felt the waterfall ninja come to a stand approximately ten meters away from his current position he made a left, trying his best to control his body actions. But when the Rock-nin jumped towards the ground he was heading he couldn't hold himself in any longer. He _sneezed. _He immediately emerged from the ground and rolled to the side to avoid a another mole jumping from the ground. He quickly took out a kunai and stabbed mole in the eye, making it disappear in a puff of smoke. He then jumped up into the air and dodged a suiton blast from the kunoichi, before grabbing a chakra knife and pumping it full of his Chakra.

He landed a few meters away, and flung his chakra knife into the shadow of the Rock-nin. As his knife found it's mark, the Shinobi and his nose became immobilized, if only for a few minutes. Shikamaru immediately turned his attention towards the other ninja, intent on finishing her off before the Rock-nin regained control of his body. To surprise however, the other burst through ground as it did best, and before Shikamaru could react the mole had sunk its teeth into his arms. As luck would have it, the waterfall-nin had unleashed an unknown ice-jutsu and several spikes were hurling towards him at alarming speed. Using his quick thinking that Shikamaru was known for, he quickly raised his arm and used one of the mole to block the incoming ice. The mole protected most of his body from being skewered. One spike pierced _through_ the head of the mole and went _through_ the arm that the mole was stilling holding on to. With the mole still attached to his heavily injured arm, Shikamaru jumped back unto the trees, the kunoichi immediately on his trail.

Shikamaru complained a lot, and people complained about his complaining a lot. Ever since that he lost his sensei three years back, he promised himself that he would use his potential to become the best ninja he could be, and make sure he _never _failed _any _of the people he loved again. One of the things that this meant was that he would not waste his time complaining while being pursued by A-class ninjas, he could complain when he got back to Konoha. He refused to even thinking about how troublesome this mission was. But – _fuck_ - his arm just _hurt_. And along those thoughts, Shikamaru sneezed again.

-

At the Yamanaka mansion, four Konuichi and a rather chubby ninja were sitting together in the main living room.

It was Ino's birthday the next day, and Ino specifically planned to hold a small gathering of her closest friends. It wasn't supposed to be anything special, but Ino had very high standards and she wouldn't have a birthday without at least some balloons, candles and flowers hanging here and there. It had taken some well-trained puppy dog eyes, but Ino had convinced her parents to stay at an inn for overnight, and she had the house all to herself. She had even talked her dad into letting her have some sake at the party, and she and sakura had planned several party games. All eleven of her close friends were going to be there, and she wanted them to remember tomorrow. That was, if all of them made it tomorrow.

"Where the hell is that lazy boy?" Ino asked out loud to no one in particular, "Seriously, I bet he's just doing this to spite me."

In preparations for the party, Ino had invited the only three other girls in their entire clique; Sakura (her best friend), Hinata and Ten Ten. She also managed get her other teammate, Chouji to come over and help her, by bribing him with a bag of chips. Of course, she had promised that he wouldn't have to do much, just help them move some of the heavier stuff. So of course, our lovable fat ninja ended up doing all the grunt work while the girls decided that they would work out the kinks in some of the part games. And working out the kinks to them meant doing what four adolescent girls do best: they _gossiped. _

Sakura of course shared her latest knowledge on her team, starting with Naruto. She began with proudly announcing that Naruto hadn't shown any attempt to try to get Sakura to go with him as a date, and so she assumed that he was now completely over her. Both Ino and her grinned mischievously at this latest news, this meant that they could proceed with phase two of their diabolical plan; setting Naruto up with Hinata. Hinata of course blushed and kept telling them that there was no need to go through all that trouble, but neither Ino nor Sakura would take no for an answer.

Tenten, being a bit of the older sister of the group, reminded Sakura that she should have been happy that she had two strong guys competing for her attention, and that the man who still had her heart beating like crazy still didn't seem to notice that she was a woman. Again Hinata had blushed, and let out a small stammer in defense of her cousin. Hinata was ignored again and the girls went into a full rant about guys and how stupid they could be, which then turned into a rant about what annoyed them about their boys which in turn became a rant about what they loved about their boys.

When they were done, and Hinata was blushing as furiously as she always did when she was a part of those conversations, she turned to curiously look at Ino. While Ino had of course participate in the big rant (how could she not?), she had not mention a single thing about her favourite subject during such rants. So Hinata being the sweet and kind girl she was, immediately asked about Shikamaru. Chouji who had been listening while moving the television set sighed, Sakura who had been holding a flower in her hand winced, and Ino who had been sitting began a ten minute tirade about _that lousy good for nothing boy _which may have been responsible for the first sneeze, assuming the superstition was true.

It wasn't the normal type of rant; mind you, the type where the girls voiced out their frustrations of the guys to hide how much they cared for them. This was the kind of rant a girl did when she were laced with worry and fear, where she hid what she really felt with words of anger. When Ino was done, the once happy mood and carefree atmosphere in the room immediately turned to one of dread. Hinata quickly whispered an apology for asking, which again had Sakura comforting the timid Hyuuga heir. Ino of course quickly intervened, telling her that she hadn't done anything wrong and that it's Shikamaru's fault for not being here in the first place. Then all had remained quiet, and it was Ino who broke the silence with her question on Shikamaru's whereabouts and motives for not being here.

"Of course he's not trying to spite you Ino, you know better than that. Shikamaru's would consider it to troublesome to try and spite you." Sakura said as she put down the flower.

Ino, being as stubborn as she was, would not be comforted so easily. "But then why isn't he here? He missed my birthday last year and he _promised _he'd be here for tomorrow!"

"Come on Ino, it's not unusual for ninjas to run a little late during missions. We're only humans, after all. How many times have you've been late for a mission?" Tenten said, also entering herself in the conversation.

But he's _three _days late! three! He was expected to arrive after three days, that is three days late.

"It happens," Chouji murmured, slightly annoyed at the trashing his best friend had been getting, "It's an S-class mission, his second one this month."

Ignoring his teammate, Ino continued her rant. "Right, I'll tell you what happened. He probably forgot to buy me a gift, so he's going to use this as an excuse to bail out tomorrow."

"Shikamaru-kun wouldn't do that," Hinata offered meekly.

"Bet your ass he would!" Ino replied, earning another blush from Hinata.

Sakura started to say something, but Chouji intervened.

"Come on Ino, give him a break. Like I said it is his second S-level mission this month, I'm sure that he isn't doing this on purpose."

Instead of calming Ino down as he had hoped his words would have done, this made Ino's face contort even more. She shook her head as if she wouldn't believe anything but her own reasoning. Chouji of course did not understand, and neither did Tenten who often found it hard to relate to her female companions. Sakura however understood exactly what Ino was going through, as she had gone through it many times herself. She often reacted the same way, yet she had no idea how she could comfort her companion.

"Uhm, what kind of mission was it?" Hinata asked allowing her curiousity to once more outshine her shyness.

"It's classified, so Shikamaru couldn't give me the details. He did however mention that it was a troublesome one and he may have to face some missing-nins. Since it's an S-class mission, I can assume they're no push over."

A small whimper escaped Ino's lips, and Sakura reached over to grab her bast friend's hand. Ino was still whispering about Shikamaru's laziness and how he was doing this just so he didn't have to come tomorrow, but her hand was trembling. Behind her, Tenten said something that made her want to slap the kunoichi.

"You think that he maybe he, you know, uhm, _ failed _the mission?"

At this Ino's barrier broke down, and her hands went to her face. In the world of the ninja, where death was always looming around the corner, the failure of a mission usually meant death. Especially S-class missions involving high ranking missing-nins. For Tenten to bring up the topic that every one had hoped to avoid with good reason was too much for Ino. Standing up from her chair she made a weak excuse about going to the bathroom before leaving. Sakura gave the red Tenten a dirty look before standing up to follow.

-

Shikamaru didn't believe in God, so he thanked the will of Fire that his opponent was so slow that he had he managed to escape so far, even with a giant dead mole attached to his arm. He could no longer feel her presence. He knew that she was still there, hiding somewhere in the shadows. Another stroke of good fortune for the Nara genius, for the shadows was as much his domain as the rest of this forest. Briefly focusing his chakra he felt out and communicated with the shadows, and sure enough he could feel the presence if his next victim somewhere to his right.

Immediately Shikamaru clasped his hands together, wincing as his injured arm throbbed with pain and completely masked his Chakra. He jumped into the bushes and immediately prepared his traps. Seconds slowly ticked by and even though both ninjas remained in hiding, the battle had already begun. '_Come on, Come out...' _When there was no movement from above him, Shikamaru figured she was about to attack. Waterfall-nins were good at silent killing, almost as good as Shinobis from the mist. So it was no surprise to Shikamaru when he turned around and found the Kunoichi swinging her katana at his head. He ducked in the nick of time as the blade nipped a few hairstrands, cutting the hair band and letting his pine-apple hair fall to the side of his face. With his hair all messy and all over the place, Shikamaru jumped out of the bushes. The waterfall ninja stepped forwards, but to her shock the bushes she had been walking through burst into fire, courtesy of a well placed exploding tag by Shikamaru.

Not to be outdone, the kunoichi quickly formed the handseals for a water jutsu to put out the fire, saving herself from burning alive. After a quick breath to steady herself, started to prepare a raiton jutsu, only to notice the shadow creeping towards her feet. She jumped to the side, and fired her completed raiton towards the ninja that had caused so much trouble for all of them. Shikamaru's face contorted to an expression of shock before the jutsu hit him squarely in the chest and a loud explosion erupted from where he was standing. The kunoichi smiled at her handy work, only to have her smile turn into a frown as the dust clear and she saw no charred remains she had expected to see. She quickly turned around but it was too late: her shadow and his shadow intermingled, and now she was staring in the face of a man who could now control her every move.

"_How…"_

"Bunshin."

"_Who..."_

"Shadow."

Setting the bushes on fire was nothing more than a distraction. Shikamaru had created a bunshin as soon as he had a chance, while he found a place to hide. Utilising his natural talent with the shadow and knowing that unlike the rock-nin this ninja did _not _have a way to smell his presence, he quickly hid and waited for his opponent to leave an opening. He simply reached to the side side pocket where the Kunoichi conveniently also kept her kunai. Shikamaru pulled out an old kunai, which in turn also had his shadow prisoner pulling out a kunai. Shikamaru calmly brought the kunai to his throat, his expressionless face not betraying the uneasiness he felt in the pit of his stomach.

The Kunoichi who's face showed nothing short of fear started to cry, the realisation that death was now all but unavoidable. The kunai in her hand was as close to her throat as the Shikamaru's kunai was to his throat, and she dared not swallow and risk cutting herself.

"What are you doing, you're willing to kill yourself just to kill me?"

Shikamaru just shrugged, before pressing the blade unto his throat and in what swift motion and the blood of the kunoichi splattered across the leaf on the ground.

"Mine's blunted." His reply may have been a little too late, but hey, shit happens.

Shikamaru's victim's eyes dilated before rolling back into her head, as she coughed up some blood before landing face first on the ground before him. Shikamaru barely registered that the girl had been no older than him before sliding down to lean on the tree trunk at his back, breathing hard as a wave of fatigue hit him. '_Ok, one left. Okay, now what?'_

A kunai missing his ear by a hair's breadth was the only real answer he needed.

-

Sometimes, being the Hokage really really sucked. Sure, there were some perks to being the leader of the most powerful hidden village on the known continent, among those perks free coffee and good seating at chuunin exams. Tsunade enjoyed her coffee very much – _black, no sugar – _but all the coffee in the world didn't make up for the migraine that regularly accompanied her job. It came up with the job description, along with long boring meetings, large stacks of paperwork and sacrificing your soul to prolong the destruction of your village. What did _not _come with the job description however, was several enraged adults coming into _her _office and bitching at her for doing her job. Dully noting that she really needed to beef up security, Tsunade winced at the continuing onslaught.

"What about my son?"

Tsunade gritted her teeth and clenched her fist; she was about ten seconds away from punching Yoshino through the wall. Again she was asked the same question, and Tsunade really didn't know how much longer she could stay calm without exploding in a fit of rage.

It had all started five days ago when Nara Shikamaru had been called in for a special mission. He had casually strolled through the office door, the look of complete and utter apathy always apparent on his face. The kid had shown great potential on his last mission, and the village elders had decided to test him with one more mission before they dropped the bomb on him. His final 'test' was a solo S-class mission, and if he succeeded he would be branded an elite jounin, and regarded as one of Konoha's finest. If he were to successfully complete the mission, he would stand alongside ninjas such as Kakashi and Gai, or even his father. Of course, the mission had a 15 chance of survival, but Tsunade was sure Shikamaru could handle it - apparently she was wrong.

It had been predicted that the young jounin would arrive within three days max, one day to get to his destination, one day to successfully complete his mission and one day to return. Hell, if things went well he could be there in two! But six days had passed and there were still no sign of the rookie jounin. So yesterday, it had finally been decided that they would mount a rescue team consisting of Naruto, Lee, Neji and Kiba. The problem of course with sending teenagers on almost-suicide missions was that the parents and their teachers were almost always over-protective, and when news got out that a _rescue_ _team_ was sent to save their only son and heir to their clan, Shikamaru's mother and father, along with several important representatives of the Nara clan came to confront the Hokage. Of course, Yamanaka Inoichi and Akamichi Chouza who shared a close bond with the father, Nara Shikaku, were there for moral support, along with their respective wives.

At the same time, the ex Jounin teachers the rescue team deployed also had a few questions to ask on their own. The idea that their students are going to be sent on an S-class mission to rescue a potentially dead companion without there knowledge had them asking some questions of their own – even though said students were all Jounins. But the amount of people filling up the office didn't end there; even Hiashi, leader of the most powerful clan in Konoha needed to blow off some steam, and the last minute mission forced upon his genius nephew seemed to be sufficient excuse. They all gathered into the office at approximately the same time, and that is when the shouting match began.

It started with Shikamaru's mom – _loudmouth bitch – _who started screaming about her son, _demanding _to know if he was alright. Shikaku of course immediately joined in – Chouza and Inoichi standing arms folded by his side - and he demanded too know the precise details of the mission his son was on and why a rescue mission was needed. It was here that the rest of the Jounins found an entrance into the conversation, all fearing the safety of their students. Tsunada reminded them that all the people in questions were now Jounin and were no longer students, which led to a bunch of sentimental speeches by various people inside the room. Most notably from Kurenai, who spoke of Asuma and how she hoped that Shikamaru did not follow the same fate as his teacher. This caused Shikamaru's mother to start crying, and the wives of Inoichi and Chouza to immediately comfort her.

Finally giving in, Tsunade had asked for the original documents of the mission so she could brief the otherwise classified mission to the people in the room. She was still waiting for the document, but Shikaku's wife kept asking the same question over and over. Just as she was about to tell the woman to shut her trap, Koharu Utatane – _the old teammate of the third_ - walked through the door, holding a file in her hand.

"Here is the document, Tsunade-sama."

The whole room went silent, as Tsunade opened the document to go through the brief.

"Ah… I see."

"What, what is it?" Shikaku had asked, as his wife started to shake.

"As you have no doubt suspected, Konoha is going through some rough times. Because of our battle with the Akatsuki and the sound, our numbers have dwindled considerably. The rock-nins have grown bold and have been trying to cripple us even further. Last month, we sent Shikamaru and three other jounins on a very important espionage mission, and what we found out was astonishing. The rock-nins have sent the heir of the infamous Kintaro clan to pose as a missing-nin and join a group of rogue ninjas. His job was to take lead of these rogues and disrupt important missions of the leaf. Several recent ANBU missions have been ambushed or sabotaged, and several lesser missions have been targeted as well."

Tsunade paused, looking around the room before continuing.

"In light of this discovery, we came up with a plan to capture the Rock-nin who was posing as a missing-nin, and bring him here for interrogation."

Hiashi frowned. "The Rock wouldn't just send any one on such a mission. Any ninja that is sent to mingle with missing-nin must be very qualified."

Narrowing her eyes, Tsunade gave Hiashi a stern look for interrupting her. "The heir of the Kintaro clan is indeed a Shinobi to be feared. The Kintaros are known for their ability to _smell _chakra and their high-powered douton and katon jutsus, not to mention there unrelenting pursuit of their victims. Once they smell there prey, they do forget. They'll chase him down for hours, sometimes even days – tiring out their victims until they can no longer run, and then they'll brutally tear them apart with their sharp claws."

"And Shikamaru was sent to face an opponent like this?"

Tsunade remained quiet – an obvious yes. Yoshina – the mother – buried her face into her husbands chest.

Inoichi just shook his head, very well aware of his daughter's fondness of the boy and what the news of his possible demise might do to her - '_Worst birthday ever'_.

"Why him, and why capture? Why not send a combat ninja to simply take care of them. Why send only one, why not a normal 4 man cell?"

"We know next to nothing about the Rock's motives, and this is our only chance to get information from a credible source. If we could capture him, all we need to do is give Ibiki a few days alone with him and we could find out all we need to know. We could also learn the secrets of his bloodline, but at the same time we cannot allow the rock-nins to know that Konoha was responsible for his capture. So we needed a Shinobi who specialized in stealth but also had the means to capture an S-class ninja."

A few gasps were heard across the room, before Chouza spoke.

"And you thought Shikamaru was ready for such a mission."

"Yes, his track record has been nothing short of impressive the last few years. He has quickly earned a reputation even outside the walls of Konoha. I still stand by decision that he was the best ninja at our disposal. Kakashi was gone on another mission at the time, and -"

Shikaku's fist slammed against the desk, fury on his face. "Is this why you send _my _son on a suicide mission? He's just a kid, how can you even think about sending him on a mission like that, he's not even a combat ninja!"

"It's not combat mission. The objective was more than within the range of your son's abilities. Sneak within the group of rogue ninjas, incapacitate the Kintaro heir and escape with him unnoticed. Exactly the type of mission the Naras are known for and Shikamaru has the potential to be the greatest ninja the Nara clan has ever seen, he may even surpass his father. Some believe he already has," As Tsunade said this, he looked Shikaku straight in his eyes, daring him to challenge her authority again.

Shikaku moved to say something, but was interrupted by the more furious mother. With an almost laughable expression, she started to scream into the head of the Hokage.

"Are we talking about the same Shikamaru here??? The lazy boy who won't even take out the trash or clean his own room? Shikamaru could never handle such a mission; I don't even know how he made chuunin! He is a smart boy, but he was never made to be a ninja!" Then the woman turned and looked Shikaku in the eye. "This is your entire fault; you had to make him go to the academy! You killed my son you bastard!"

The room erupted in another series of loud banter, and it would have continued had Kakashi not decided to finally speak up. Standing rather laid back in the corner, one eye covered and the other one staring rather bored at the people in front him, the copy-nin walked up to Tsunade's desk. "Can I see the document?"

Tsunade, caught off guard, just handed the document to the Shinobi. Kakashi looked through it for a while, while every one stared at him impatiently. After a few minutes of just staring at the copy-nin reading the document, Tsunade thought he had fallen asleep and no one noticed. Then he surprised them again.

"It's not mentioned," he casually said.

"What's not mentioned?"

"The Rock-nin's ability, I don't see it mentioned anywhere on this peace of paper. Does Shikamaru know that as soon as he gets within a certain distant of his target the Kintaro will be able to smell his Chakra?"

At this, Tsunade turned to look at Koharu Utatane. "Does he?"

Koharu gulped in fear, knowing that the Hokage was not going to like her answer. "With all do respect, Hokage-same, he is a genius, surely he knows about the Kintaro clan."

"Since when does being a genius mean that you have to know about some bloodline from some other village?" Kurenai snapped, "I've been a jounin for years and I've never even heard of the Kintaro until now."

Koharu started to stammer, but Tsunade did not even want to hear it.

"It is standard procedure that we fill those documents with as much details as possible, you know this Koharu. If he wasn't aware that the ninja would smell his chakra from over a long distance then Shikamaru isn't aware of the measures he needs to take to ensure he's not detected. This changes his survival chance from 15 to 2; he's not equipped to face them in direct combat. Odds are, he's already dead."

Shikaku tensed, Kurenai pressed her lips together, and Yoshino fainted.

-

Shikamaru stripped himself of the hideous dead mole attached to his fore-arm and wrapped a small strip of cloth around his gaping wound. The ice-pick that had impaled his arm had actually melted, courtesy of a Katon jutsu from the last ninja remaining. The Shadow of Konoha pulled the cloth tight to slow down the bleeding, at the same time making sure he still had some use of his arm. He did this with a calm patience; enjoy the beautiful view he had from the tree top his was sitting in. It may very well have been his last. When he was done he gracefully jumped out of the tree, landing in a small open area in the middle of the forest.

"Thank you for your kind patience, _Kintaro Hikaru_," Shikamaru intoned to the forest around him, pulling out the last chakra knife he had; "I am ready for you now."

To his right the bushes started to rustle, so naturally Shikamaru turned to his left. From within the trees came out a tall rugged man, wearing a brown vest and black cloth covering where his eyes used to be. He walked out slowly with a heavy bounce in his step. Besides his light panting, there was no sign that the man in front of him was even slightly tired from the six day long goose-chase. He certainly looked like he could go on fighting for a few more days, his sharp claws glistening even from within the shadows.

"_Nara Shikamaru, Konoha's very own Shadow ninja."_

Shikamaru was tired as hell, and he wished for nothing more than sleep. '_Sleep is for the dead or those that cannot die' - _this is what his dad always use to tell him in the past. _'As long as you live, you're job is too survive. Too many people will be counting on you to be awake at the moment that you want to sleep the most. Remember that every time you sleep, people die.' _For Shikamaru, truer words have never been said.

"I'm surprised to find you here I must admit, word has it that you specialize in retrieval missions. How long have you been an assassin?"

"I'm not."

"Then for someone who is _not _an assassin you certainly do excel at killing."

"Troublesome. Did everybody in your little group talk so much, or just you and the Waterfall Ninja?"

Shikamaru noted the visible flinch the Rock ninja made, glad that his assessment was true. The ninja before him may have been powerful, but he was quickly angered. '_Was it because he said he talks too much, or something else?"_

"I regret that it had to come this far, I didn't want to have to kill any of them," Shikamaru paused. "She cried, you know."

Hikaru gritted his teeth and clenched his fist. Within a blink of an eye the ninja launched forward, claws stretched out. Shikamaru immediately jumped back, but couldn't avoid the long bloody marks across his chest, or his ripped chuunin best.

"I guess this means you don't want to talk no more?"

"I fell in love with her, you bastard. You ruined _everything."_

Shikamaru sighed. _"_I guess I'm wrong."

"I was almost done. And I was going to take her with me, back to the Stone. Just a few more days of disposing a few of you filthy Leaf Nins and we'd be back on my estate, she'd be made into a Stone-Nin and we'd live happily ever after – _until you came."_

"You and your group killed almost a dozen of our ninjas. You seem be confused as to whom the bad guy is over here. I wouldn't have had to kill her if she hadn't been so dedicated to killing me. I only came here for _you."_

"I loved her!"

"I see how it is." Shikamaru whispered with mock sadness. The only answer from his opponent was a confused creasing of the brow. "You wish to die by my hand also."

The look of shock on the man's face was telling. Kintaro swallowed, for the first time realizing that he was about to face a man who had managed to kill five A-class ninjas on his own, and still stood calm against his last opponent. A ninja who was known not for overwhelming power – a quality that Kintaro felt certain he would be able to handle – but a ninja known for his ruthless plans and strategic brilliance –something Kintaro was not used to dealing with. He was Konoha's shadow, one of the more infamous and feared ninja from the Rookie 12. His reputation rivalled that of Hyuga Neji and even Uzumaki Naruto. Was he ready for such an opponent?

Shikamaru allowed the Kintaro to stew silently for a few heartbeats, before rushing forwards, swiping his trench knife at the face of the ninja.

Sidestepping the furiously shocked lunge, Kintaro launched a counter strike. Shikamaru dodged that one and then another one until they found themselves playing a game of tag – and neither wanted to be it.

He was good, he was better than good. Obviously the stronger and faster ninja here, Hikaru matched Shikamaru blow for blow – the occasional swipe too close for comfort, scoring thick red gashes into Shikamaru's flesh. While his fighting skills were definitely something to worry over, Hikaru was overly arrogant of his abilities. Because of this, Shikamaru managed to get in a good stab that caused the Rock to back up.

Testue staggered a little, and then the ninja launched forward once more. But this time Shikamaru was ready. He ducked under the swing and used his own blood to make two summonses. Two deer came out of nowhere came from and lurched forward towards Hikaru. The Stone-Nin jumped up into the air as the deer ran straight under him and into the forest. To his surprise they did not turn around, rather they disappeared.

"Lousy summons you got there chump. And you're almost out of chakra."

Shikamaru frowned, looking in the direction of the run away deer. "Before you kill me, I have one request. Do you mind if I have a smoke?"

"Katon!"

Shikamaru jumped to the side, barely avoiding a massive stream of fire. _'Guess he does mind'._ But Shikamaru didn't seem to care, he pulled out a cigarette and used the very flames that were there because of the katon fired by his opponent to light up his smoke.

"Thank you, I forgot my lighter at home."

"You're welcome, fool. Now prepare to die."

It all happened in slow motion. Hikaru dashed forward with his claws stretched out, ready to rip out Shikamaru's throat. Shikamaru calmly inhaled the smoke, not even attempting to dodge. Hikaru took Shikamaru's foreboding calm as a sign that he had

won the battle. As his claws were mere inches away from Shikamaru's neck, the rock ninja staggered back and started coughing. Shikamaru remained calm as all the smoke that he exhaled into the face of his enemy made him choke. Before Hikaru could recover, he found himself unable to move.

"The problem with having such a sensitive nose is that you can only sit in the no smoking section of the restaurants," Shikamaru said in an offhanded matter, his shadow jutsu having completely bound his adversary.

"Nice plan, except how are you going to finish me off now? You're low on Chakra, you won't be able to hold me more than thirty seconds, you prick!"

Shikamaru didn't bother to reply, not even when his two runaway deer slammed head first into Hikaru from each side.

-

"…and Shikamaru was expected back _Tuesday,_ according to The Old Lady, and as today's Friday and he's not _back_ yet, the we have to go and find him. So we're sorry we won't be able to make it to your party tomorrow, Ino-chan. I really wish we could be there. We're heading over to Hokage's office right now to pick up the specific details of the mission, but it's expected that we'll take at least three days…" Naruto gulped, not finishing his sentence.

Sakura had barely managed to get an extremely distraught Ino out of the bathroom, when Naruto, Neji, Lee and Kiba burst through the door unexpected to tell them that they could not make it for tomorrow's party. Now of course all the girls in the room demanded to know why not, and judging by the sadness in Hinata's eyes, the frustration on Tenten's cheeks and the unknown fury that Sakura's entire face expressed, the four rookies were not leaving the room with an explanation.

When Neji looked uncomfortably in Ino's direction and Kiba told Naruto that he should go ahead and tell them (since Naruto was apparently the squad leader), Sakura knew she was not going to like the answer one bit. And when Naruto told them they were going on a mission to find Shikamaru in hopes that he was still _alive,_ she dully noted that she was right.

She wanted to hit Naruto. She knew it wasn't his fault, but she wanted to hit him anyway. Whenever she felt powerless in any shape or form, hitting Naruto helped take her mind off her situation. She looked at her best friend who had now quietly started to cry and she was reminded of _that day _when she felt so powerless – she hated that feeling. She wanted to smack Naruto for bringing such news at such a moment, she wanted smack the Hokage for possibly being responsible for the death of one her comrades and she wanted to smack Shikamaru for not being _here _and rectifying the situation himself.

Eventually, amongst the back-and-forth banter of the various inhabitants of the room, the twitching in Sakura's jaw had ceased completely. Her chakra-pumped fist slammed into the wooden floor under her, causing a rift to make every standing shinobi in the room – with the exception of lee – lose there balance. The building itself shook and Ino briefly wondered how she was going to explain this to her parent, before her mind reverted to the original crisis at hand.

When the building finally stopped shaking, Ino stood up once more and looked at the people around her. Many had expected her to burst and lose her cool much like Sakura did. But instead her voice spoke with surprising calm, which only increased the tension that much more.

"Let's go see the Hokage."

-

The Hokage did not want to see anymore people. When Yoshino fainted, Shikaku took her out of the crowded office and into the comfortable waiting room and laid her out on the couch. Since none of the other inhabitants has any blood connection with the missing brat, she figured it wouldn't be overly cold of her to toss each of them out of the room. So when Gai was the last one to land on his ass, she shut her door, finally happy that she could sit down actually _think _about what needed to happen.

Her original plan was to simply gather three elite combat ninja and a very able tracking ninja, tell where to go and wait for them to return with good news or bad news. After careful thinking she had sent for Naruto, Neji, Lee and Kiba. They were all good enough friends with the ninja missing in action to do their very best, but at the same time not close enough that they would act irrational if the mission turned out uglier than they had hope for. She would've considered sending Chouji but she knew that the boy would chase the ninjas all the way into the Hidden Village of the Rock. And if it turned out the ninja was dead, he would probably face the Tsuchikage himself, and Tsunade didn't feel like losing another talented member of her forces. As followed, the plan had been to send Naruto and his team on their merry way, bring back Shikamaru and maybe even heal him up in time for the Yamanaka heir's birthday party.

'_Better kiss that plan goodbye'. _She had not paid attention to the specifics of the mission and just now she found out that not all the necessary information was in the mission document. This meant that Shikamaru, a ninja who depended on foreknowledge for his missions to be successful, did not have all the information he needed. The kid was smart, but how well would he have been able to improvise in this situation? What would his genius brain be able to do for him when four A-class ninjas and one S-class ninja all came after him at once, with most of them having stronger or faster jutsus than him? Part of being the Hokage was able to face the reality and react well in accordance to that reality. '_The kid's dead, and the Rock know that we tried to kidnap one of their own. No point in risking more valuable ninjas when we've just lost the brains of that particular group._

Heaving a heavy sigh, Tsunade thought about what she was going to have to do. When Naruto and his team come to pick up the specifics of the mission, she will have to tell them that the mission has been cancelled. She'll have to explain to them that people die, and that there friend is most likely dead. First they will be in denial; even Neji will list many different scenarios which Shikamaru is still alive and breathing.Then the screaming and shouting match will come; Naruto will scream at frustration that he cannot do anything to save his friend and Kiba will shout at her for _failing _them. Lee will gravely nod and hold a corny yet heart-warming speech and then after an hour they will leave the office and go deliver the news. And the next day, hell will break lose and she as the Hokage who chose Shikamaru to take the mission will be right in the middle of it.

"Tsunade-sama."

Tsunade broke out of her reverie and turned to her subordinate. "What is it, Shizune?"

"Naruto-kun and his team are here."

"Well then what are you waiting for? Send them in."

Shizune gulped, knowing that what she was going to say was not going to make Tsunade happy at all. "They're not alone Tsunade-sama, Yamanaka Ino and Akamichi Chouji are with them."

When Tsunade's desk was reduced to broken pieces of wood, Shizune gulped once more. "What should I do, Tsunade-sama?"

"Tell them all to wait outside in the waiting room for me, I'll go outside myself."

-

Shikamaru stood exhausted in front of the main building, his hands shaking out of pure _relief _that he was standing at all. It was nice coming back from a mission with his face not scarred beyond recognition or without missing any limbs here and there. There had been too many moments on the mission where he had thought he wouldn't ever see his friends again. He hadn't slept for ages; it's near impossible to find a long-term hiding spot when a ninja can smell your chakra.

Placing his shaking hand on the door in front of him he pushed forward, allowing himself and his deer to enter the place. Most of the inhabitants of the room looked up in surprise they saw the deer enter the public building, but when they noticed it was Shikamaru leading the deer they merely shrugged it off and continued with what they were doing. Some kept staring however and Shikamaru could only imagined how he looked at the moment – A heavily scarred body with a shredded jounin vest as muddy and bloodstained as the rest of him; his entire body just trembling in an attempt to stay _conscious._ Surely he couldn't look as bad as he felt? Catching the professional worried look of Shizune, and the pitying glance of various other inhabitants in the room, he had to guess that he did look a lot worse than he did.

"It was a hassle Shizune-sempai, but mission completed. He's the guy." Shikamaru pointed towards the deer and sure enough was the much mangled Kintaro Hikaru, unconscious and barely breathing. Shizune gasped out loud, a look of complete shock on her face.

"You actually completed the mission…"

Shikamaru cocked his eyebrow. "Of course, wasn't I supposed to?"

"It's not that, Shikamaru-san. It's just that everybody thinks you're dead at the moment." Shikamaru quickly turned towards a voice he had not expected and found Kotetsu Hagane standing behind him. In his quick turn he nearly fell down as his knee gave away, but Kotetsu managed to catch him in the nick of time.

"You look like you can use some rest. Come on; let's get you to the hospital," Shizune finally managed to get out, moving to help Kotetsu with the boy.

"Not yet, I still have to report to the Hokage. Help me with our capture."

Kotetsu and Shikamaru grabbed the mole ninja and proceeded up the stairs, and Shizune followed. As he got closer to the gates, the voice of Chouji was heard along the faint weeping of his mother. Whatever had kept him moving through the night had evaporated as soon as he realized that every one was probably in there talking about _him _no doubt. In the coming years more and more his parents and friends worried about him and if they saw what he looked like now…

-

"Please Tsunade-sama, let me go search for him. I know Shikamaru better than I know my own hand, and I've been training…"

"No Chouji, for the last time! It's too late, going now won't help anybody. It'll just be throwing away your lives."

"But he's not dead, I can feel it." The tears were falling freely now, he wouldn't believe that his best friend was gone. He refused.

The people in the room remained quiet, Yoshino crying loudly into her husband's chest and Ino with her hand buried in her face. Sakura and Tenten sat next to her both there hands on her back, Hinata crouched down in front of her patting her head. Naruto looked more serious than he has in years and Lee and Kiba were furious. Even Neji looked more stern than usual.

"I'm sorry, but I cannot risk losing more valuable ninjas on a hunch you have. I can't send Naruto and his team and I certainly can't send you alone. Tomorrow an ANBU team will be dispatched to see if they can find out what happened, but that's all we can do," Tsunade's face was solemn and her voice was absolute; she wasn't going to lose more people under her watch. It was troubling enough that she may very well have lost one of her most promising ninja.

"I will go."

It was Ino who spoke up; her eyes red from hours of crying. The inhabitants of the room stared at her, surprised that she spoke up like that. Tsunade just sighed.

"Sorry Ino," her voice forced, "But like I said…"

"_Fuck _what you said, I'm not going to stay her and sleep while his killers just run out there free. They took him away from me and you just want me to stand here…!"

The creaking of the main door silenced Ino before she could finish her sentence; and all attention went to the intruder. The door fully opened, and Shizune entered with Kotetsu slightly behind her carrying a bleeding and broken Shinobi – a Shinobi from a different village. Tsunade was the first to spoke up, immediately demanding to know the meaning of this intrusion with her eyes focused on the person Kotetsu was carrying, but she stopped mid-sentence.

"Nobody needs to go anywhere."

To say a pin could be heard dropping was an understatement; when every one saw Shikamaru leaning against the door for support it may have been possible to hear an ant fart. Yoshino who had stopped crying when she heard Ino's outburst fainted once more. Noticing the various outlandish look on the faces of the people in the room, only one thought ran through his head; '_Troublesome'._ He couldn't stand staring at there faces so he turned towards the clock that hung in the center of the room, it was twelve o' clock. He winced very discreetly as he felt a certain someone run up to him and give him the squeeze of his life; he looked down and sure enough there was Ino, sobbing unto his chest. He did not want her to see him like this, but he certainly did not feel like arguing at the moment. He had almost no strength left, so using the last of it he muttered a weak happy birthday before allowing himself to succumb to the darkness that was quickly engulfing his vision and lost his consciousness.


End file.
